Does PGA external stenting reduce compliance mismatch in venous grafts.docVIP

BioMedical Engineering OnLine BioMedCentral Research Open Access Does PGA external stenting reduce compliance mismatch in venous grafts? Zhong-zhao Teng*?1, Guang-yu Ji?2, Hong-jun Chu2, Zhi-Yong Li3, Liang- jian Zou2, Zhi-yun Xu2 and Sheng-dong Huang2 Address: 1Aragon Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Spain, 2Department of Cardiothocacic Surgery, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai, China and 3Departments of Engineering Radiology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ UK Email: Zhong-zhao Teng* - zzteng@unizar.es; Guang-yu Ji - jigy_dor@; Hong-jun Chu - drhjchu35@; Zhi- Yong Li - ZYL22@cam.ac.uk; Liang-jian Zou - xuzy@; Zhi-yun Xu - zhiyunx@; Sheng- dong Huang - huangsd@ * Corresponding author ?Equal contributors Published: 16 April 2007 Received: 31 August 2006 Accepted: 16 April 2007 BioMedical Engineering OnLine 2007, 6:12 doi:10.1186/1475-925X-6-12 This article is available from: /content/6/1/12 ? 2007 Teng et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: Autogenous vein grafting is widely used in regular bypassing procedures. Due to its mismatch with the host artery in both mechanical property and geometry, the graft often over expands under high arterial blood pressure and forms a step-depth where eddy flow develops, thus causing restenosis, fibrous graft wall, etc. External stents, such as sheaths being used to cuff the graft, have been introduced to eliminate these mismatches and increase the patency. Although histological and immunochemical studies have shown some positive effects of the external stent, the mechanical mismatch under the protection of an external stent remains poorly analyzed. Methods: In this study, the jugula